Forever

Ch. 6: Expectations

Ruffnut paced the academy, rambling on about her latest dilemma. "I mean, he won't even look at me anymore! He was the man of my dreams, and now that dream's dead."

Astrid nodded. "Uh huh," she said as she strapped on Stormfly's saddle.

Ruffnut threw her arms around in frustration. "Am I not good enough for him?! Did he decide to go after that Merida girl?" She looked over to her best friend and scowled, realizing she wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. "Astrid! This is serious! What should I do to win over my beautiful son of Eret?"

Astrid shrugged. "Maybe it's time you move on from Eret."

Ruffnut's eyes flew open. "Move on?! To who? Ugh! The stress is too much!" She tugged furiously on her braids, head thrown back in despair.

The other blonde rolled her eyes at the dramatic scene unfolding before her. "What about Fishlegs? Or Snotlout? They're both into you."

Ruffnut shook her head. "But they're not Eret!"

Astrid sighed, trying to think about any, any attractive qualities about the two men in their group. "Um, Snotlout is muscular like Eret, and he has black hair like Eret, and, um, he's tough like Eret."

The long haired Viking stopped blubbering and sat quietly, contemplating the thought. "Maybe I'll think about it."

"Good," Astrid replied, climbing up into her saddle. "Now if you're done complaining, I have places to be."

Ruffnut cocked her head to the side. "Where do you have to be that's so important that you don't have time to be with me?"

The blonde sighed. "Valka asked me to get Hiccup away for the evening. He needs to get his mind off his dad and the village."

Stormfly lifted into the air, and together her and Astrid flew out to the cove to prepare a picnic.

Astrid would be the first to tell anyone that she wasn't much of the romantic type, but for Hiccup she most definitely had a soft spot.

She landed down in the cove and started unpacking picnic supplies. She had told Hiccup to meet her there at sunset, and by the look of the sky, she guessed she had around 30 minutes.

The blonde Viking set out a blanket of furs, as well as some of Hiccup's favorite foods. She sat back, looking at her work, when she heard dragon wings quickly approaching.

Looking up, Astrid saw Toothless beginning to land. "Hey M'lday," Hiccup said, hopping off the Night Fury. "How was your day?"

Astrid sighed, thinking about the boring events of the past 12 hours. "Fairly boring. How was yours?"

Hiccup groaned. "More repairs, I had to work on the peace treaty with King Fergus, I had to deal with Merida and Eret, such a fantastic day." Astrid sat down on the blanket, and Hiccup joined her. "But," he said as he tucked one leg under the other. "It just got a whole lot better." He smiled and put a hand over Astrid's.

They sat there, looking at each other for a moment, before Hiccup broke their gaze and looked at the food spread out around him. "What's all this?"

Astrid smiled. "I brought us a picnic; I thought that since you've been working so hard lately, it'd be fun to have a little date before I leave tomorrow."

Hiccup scowled. "Oh yeah, you're going on a trip with your uncle."

The blonde Viking chuckled. "We're going to see some family up north. It's five days. I've survived much longer waiting for you; you'll survive."